I picked up a cablecard this Thursday, and spent four hours on the Phone. Then I tried up another card Friday hoping it would work. Spent a couple more hours on the phone, and still could not get it to work. They said that a truck had to be sent out. I told them to make sure he brought some cable cards. They said he would. Well he didn't bring any cards, and could not fix it. Today they are supposed to try again . Hopefully the tech will bring a few cards with him.

So does anyone have any experience with Richmond , Fios service and their cable cards. I might need to try another company, or just drop cable tv. My rooftop antenna works great. Having a tivo with multiple tuners and an Appletv, I should have enough tv.

Are you sayng that Comcast provides FIOS service? I was not aware that they were doing that in any of there markets.

I just finished a surprisingly good experience getting a new Premiere going with Comcast. Already have an HD (installed when a truck roll was required) so I knew what was needed.

Ordered the Premiere last weekend and Monday, called Comcast to verify how to get a cable card (expecting "we don't ship" as I had read here). At this point, things went a little south. Phone rep (local - lived in my town) said just go to the office and they'll have one for you (made it sound like he had contacted them and had them set one aside). Did so to find no they didn't have one for me and didn't have any. :-( However, the office rep took my number and said he'd call when they had one. No call Tuesday and I realized I could spend as much in gas Saturday morning running around the various offices as a truck roll would cost and I might still not have a card so I set up a truck roll for this morning. Yesterday morning, the rep called and said he had one. Decided what the heck, took off from work early (to work from home), and picked it up. They made me cancel the truck roll for this morning (I really wanted to hold on to it until I was sure the card worked). Documentation consisted of the activation phone number written on a piece of paper.

Went home, popped it in, called. Part way through, problems with the phone connection so the activation rep called me back! :-) Finished the activation and I was in business!

I wanted to share my experience with getting service with Comcast, a cablecard, and a TiVO HD.

I had internet only service from comcast for several years. No problems. We received TV programming via an antenna and Broadband internet (Netflix and Amazon). - again, all this worked well, no complaints. My wife wanted to add HBO, which meant adding TV service through Comcast, so I called to start the service, and was told that they would ship a cablecard out to me, and that I should expect it in 3-5 days. It never arrived, and a repeat call told me that I would have to pick up the card from the Comcast center - which I did, I then installed the card, and called Comcast to have it activated. They told me that it was good to go, but it wasn't working. Called several more times, the issue was escalated to a tier II tech, who again, didn't manage to get it to work. On Saturday, I spoke to a tech who suggested that I might have a bad cablecard, so he said that I could return to the comcast service center to exchange the card, or he could send a tech out to the house. I opted for the tech, and was told that the tech would arrive between 10:00 and 12:00 on Sunday. I was also told to expect 3 calls from comcast to confirm the visit, and that if I failed to answer the confirmation calls, that the appointment would be cancelled. By Sunday at 11, I had no calls, so I called Comcast to confirm that I had an appointment - I was told that there was no appointment scheduled, sorry for the misunderstanding, and that they would be able to fix it by sending out a signal from their office. Very frustrated I said bad things about Comcast. Then, at 11:55, a Comcast tech arrived at our door. After about an hour of poking and prodding around, the tech found that a filter had been installed on the pole outside our house to filter out the TV signal. He said that this sometimes results in better internet connectivity. He removed the filter, and everything started to work fine.

Very frustrated with the lack of helpfulness and lack of technical savvy of the comcast technical support staff, hope that this post might help the next person who finds themselves frustrated with the CableCARD.

...After about an hour of poking and prodding around, the tech found that a filter had been installed on the pole outside our house to filter out the TV signal. He said that this sometimes results in better internet connectivity...

Yeah, but that's not why it was there, it was there to keep you from getting cable for free and they should have had a record of it being there, and known that they needed to come out and remove it when you added TV service.

Make it clear to them that you will not be paying anything for that truck roll, and that you expect something in compensation for all of your time that they wasted with their incompetence and the extra trouble they put you through.

If they balk, tell them you'll be taking it up with the franchising authority (that's the city council or whoever that gives them a monopoly on running cable through everyone's front yards).

I ordered a premiere a few weeks ago, and traded in my P.O.S. Comcast DVR for a cablecard the night before the delivery. The Tivo showed up less than 24 hours after I placed the order, btw! Anyway, I popped in the card and called Comcast; everything was working great. For a day. The cablecard became unpaired, and I called Comcast who simply reactivated the card and wouldn't help me any further. They advised me to call Tivo if it came unpaired again!

I called Comcast the next day because, again, it came unpaired. The activation rep argued with me that there was no way it was the cablecard and I should call Tivo. I refused, and she sent me to a tech support rep.

The tech support rep sounded a bit more local, so communication was more clear. He had no idea what was happening, but made sure to suggest I should switch back to a Comcast DVR . I laughed! Anyway, he had a tech come out the next day who switched out the card. Yep, it works perfectly now.

Since the only digital equipment I have from you are the one adapter included in the package and the two free FCC mandated DTA's, why are you charging me to have my own equipment (two TiVos) connected to the cable in violation of FCC regulations?

From the FCC website:

"Use your own set-top box without extra charge. FCC Rule 76.1205(b)(5)(C). Your cable operator may charge you to lease a CableCARD or tuning adapter, but may not charge you an additional service fee for using your own digital-cable-ready television or set-top box. "

(Contact information redacted)

I was contacted within hours by phone. After much wailing an gnashing of teeth, I was offered a 12-month removal of one of the "Digital Service" fees. While it did not satisfy me, I took what I could get. I also followed up with this e-mail:

Quote:

I just got off the phone with your CS representative. I'm afraid that I didn't react well to what she had to say and for that I apologize. However, in my defense I do not like being presented with a disingenuous and obfuscated argument.

This is from the FCC website:

Accurate information on the rental cost of a CableCARD from your provider. Your operator must list the cost of a CableCARD rental on its website or billing inserts and on its annual rate notice, and must provide you with this information when you call. FCC Rule 76.1205(b)(5), 76.1602(b). Typically operators charge $2-4 per month to rent a CableCARD.
Use your own set-top box without extra charge. FCC Rule 76.1205(b)(5)(C). Your cable operator may charge you to lease a CableCARD or tuning adapter, but may not charge you an additional service fee for using your own digital-cable-ready television or set-top box.

The only CableCARD fee(s) you have on the rate sheet included with my January bill (in the VIDEO EQUIPMENT section) are:

I think there is some room for different interpretations of the rules.

While Comcast may not charge you for using your own equipment, I believe they can charge you for PROGRAMMING which is available on additional outlets, etc. I pay an additional outlet fee which includes their equipment, but get a credit for the use of my own equipment. I believe the remainder of the charge helps defray the cost of the programming. There is a cost associated with authorizing the reception/unscrambling of the programming on both their equipment and your equipment. It seems reasonable that they could charge for that service.

I think there is some room for different interpretations of the rules.

While Comcast may not charge you for using your own equipment, I believe they can charge you for PROGRAMMING which is available on additional outlets, etc. I pay an additional outlet fee which includes their equipment, but get a credit for the use of my own equipment. I believe the remainder of the charge helps defray the cost of the programming. There is a cost associated with authorizing the reception/unscrambling of the programming on both their equipment and your equipment. It seems reasonable that they could charge for that service.

I wish the FCC regs were more specific about this.

I'm sorry, but if they used that argument, I would consider it specious. They do not pay the content providers per outlet, they pay per subscriber. As far as their costs are concerned, if it were a one-time setup charge it would be a bit more understandable. But it isn't. It is a monthly charge for something that basically costs them nothing. It is also a flat charge no matter what level of service you have, how many premium channels you have, etc. It has nothing whatever to do with recovering programming costs.

When cable first started, there was an additional charge for each outlet. This is their way of returning to that model.

Cable wants to act like the phone company used to. Until sometime in the 70's, you paid an additional charge for each phone on a line, even if you owned the equipment (rare, as the phone company had the right to refuse to let you attach your own equipment).

I think there is some room for different interpretations of the rules.

While Comcast may not charge you for using your own equipment, I believe they can charge you for PROGRAMMING which is available on additional outlets, etc. I pay an additional outlet fee which includes their equipment, but get a credit for the use of my own equipment. I believe the remainder of the charge helps defray the cost of the programming. There is a cost associated with authorizing the reception/unscrambling of the programming on both their equipment and your equipment. It seems reasonable that they could charge for that service.

I wish the FCC regs were more specific about this.

It's pretty clear from reading the new rules and FAQs that the FCC's intent was to have a simple rental fee per card that is universally applied to all customers. Comcast clearly does not do this, regardless of the validity of the outlet fee. In their response to me and the FCC, they acknowledge this and claim that they are working to get it corrected nationwide, but I don't think it will happen - their billing is a crazy quilt of different systems. This is what the FCC should address along with the validity of the outlet fee for card users.

Comcast is the only cableCo that I know of that does not have a uniform card rental fee, and they are also the only one that I've seen that imposes this bogus outlet fee.

Just replaced my Tivo HD with an Elite (quad tuners is just wonderful!).

I setup the Elite and was prepped for the cablecard move. I removed the cablecard from the HD and put it in the Elite then powered it up. Surprisingly, I had all my channels, but I suspected this wouldn't last long, so called the 1-877 cablecard number (Wednesday). Told them the story and provided the cablecard data (HostID and such). After they entered in the data, I had them read it back to me. Everything seemed fine - 5 minute call.

Then on Saturday, I noticed 6 channels popped up the cablecard screen. I checked my other Tivo - those channels came in fine. Ok, reboot the Elite...still don't get those channels.

Sunday - call the 1-877 number, they send a hit - nothing. They check the data and says the cablecard data doesn't match and can't fix it, has to send me to 2nd tier. Get transferred to 2nd tier, send more hits. Nothing. I ask to verify the hostid and such, hmmm, numbers don't match. This person is in the Boston area, he puts me on hold while he talks to a field tech. Comes back on the phone and says that the field tech says the only way to fix it is with a truck roll. "you need to send a field tech to my house to fix bad data in your system?????" And he says he'd have to transfer me to West Coast (I'm in SF) to be able to schedule a truck roll. I argue again and he tries another field tech who says the other guy was wrong. So he says he needs to transfer me to the West Coast customer service area. I get transferrred into the standard automated voice system. And I swear, I think I ended up transferred back to the 1-877 cablecard folks.

Tell that person my story, they check the system and enter in the new data. Send a hit, wham, missing channels come back.

Ive been trying to read some of the recent posts to get an idea of what the issues are when getting comcast setup.

Im going to need to do this in 2 weeks. I have a tivo premiere currently with Brighthouse. With Brighthouse I have a cable card and a tuning adapter.

For Comcast is a tuning adapter necessary? The initial Comcast chat person was telling me I couldnt get HD Channels, Premium Channels. I told him I didnt think that was true. What do I need to tell these people so they know what to do? For instance, for brighthouse it took many visits until I told them I needed a tuning adapter. I just want to make sure this goes smoothly. So far I have noticed to make sure the billing info and #s are entered correctly in their system. Do I need to know anything else? I dont trust that they know what they are doing.

Ive been trying to read some of the recent posts to get an idea of what the issues are when getting comcast setup.

Im going to need to do this in 2 weeks. I have a tivo premiere currently with Brighthouse. With Brighthouse I have a cable card and a tuning adapter.

For Comcast is a tuning adapter necessary? The initial Comcast chat person was telling me I couldnt get HD Channels, Premium Channels. I told him I didnt think that was true. What do I need to tell these people so they know what to do? For instance, for brighthouse it took many visits until I told them I needed a tuning adapter. I just want to make sure this goes smoothly. So far I have noticed to make sure the billing info and #s are entered correctly in their system. Do I need to know anything else? I dont trust that they know what they are doing.

Thanks!

If they do Switched Digital Video (SDV), you will need a tuning adapter if you want any of the channels that they offer via SDV.

See if you can find someone at their office that knows what SDV is, and knows if they use it, and knows which of their channels are offered via it.

The vast majority of Comcast areas don't use SDV. I believe there are a few areas that Comcast acquired from Time Warner or another company that use SDV, but I'm not 100% positive about that. None of the "native" Comcast systems use SDV though.

I don't know if anyone has experienced this problem and this thread is so huge reading through it all is just not going to happen.

I have a TiVo HD and a TiVo Premiere and each have a Comcast M-card installed. One major problem I have with both machines is the occasional "dark" channel. Sometimes (this happens with either TiVo) will tune to a digital or HD channel and will only get a black screen. Nothing will record. I've only noticed that this occurs with a handful of channels. Every time I've witnessed it both tuners are tuned to digital or HD channels. I am able to tune in that channel if I scan up/down until I can get a channel with a picture, then back to the original. When I do this, the channel on the other tuner will freeze and nothing will record until I try channel up/down work around. Essentially, I am occasionally reduced to one tuner.

It was extremely irritating during March Madness while trying to keep an eye on two different channels when one channel would freeze or be totally dark. I hope I've explained the problem well enough for you to understand what I'm going through. Will having the cable cards replaced help? Especially since I have two cards on two different machines doing the same thing. Any advice would be appreciated. Would replacing them fix the problem or only cause me more stress dealing with a truck roll, the probability of getting S cards instead of M, problems setting up new cards, etc, etc.

If it's a black screen the channel is likely copy-protected and your card is not paired correctly. Call the Comcast Cablecard activation line and have them make sure your Data ID matches what's in their system (assuming you're using a Moto M-card).

If it's a black screen the channel is likely copy-protected and your card is not paired correctly. Call the Comcast Cablecard activation line and have them make sure your Data ID matches what's in their system (assuming you're using a Moto M-card).

I do occasionally get the "not subscribed to this channel" message, most of the time I do not. The channel up/down work around usually fixes it. Do you think it still may be a pairing issue?

I do occasionally get the "not subscribed to this channel" message, most of the time I do not. The channel up/down work around usually fixes it. Do you think it still may be a pairing issue?

The "not subscribed" tells you (as you know) you're receiving the channel but not authorized to watch it. What happened (and just happened again) is that signal strength is an issue for receiving stations. In my area Palladium, Showtime HD, and one other station "ride" the same bandwith and those were the stations that were 'black'. I know I get them but nothing would appear. Comcast came out and it was determined that the signal was not strong enough (this didn't happen for the other tivo, just one). I recently sold my DLP and now just have a projector and moved stuff around and the cable was moved and so, again, I lost two of the three and the one that was left was pixelating horribly (when it was on at all) so I spent some time "literally" moving the cable line up, down, left, right until the pictures were back. Long story short - find out if the black stations are all in the same 'packet' to determine if it's a signal strength issue.

The "not subscribed" tells you (as you know) you're receiving the channel but not authorized to watch it. What happened (and just happened again) is that signal strength is an issue for receiving stations. In my area Palladium, Showtime HD, and one other station "ride" the same bandwith and those were the stations that were 'black'. I know I get them but nothing would appear. Comcast came out and it was determined that the signal was not strong enough (this didn't happen for the other tivo, just one). I recently sold my DLP and now just have a projector and moved stuff around and the cable was moved and so, again, I lost two of the three and the one that was left was pixelating horribly (when it was on at all) so I spent some time "literally" moving the cable line up, down, left, right until the pictures were back. Long story short - find out if the black stations are all in the same 'packet' to determine if it's a signal strength issue.

The next time that I notice this problem, I'll try to check signal strength.

Hey -- I appear to have successfully downgraded my cable from "Digital Preferred" to Limited Basic and kept the cable cards.

The helpful Comcast Chat lady tried to tell me that the cable cards would not be required with limited basic but I used the words "customer owned equipment" and "FCC" and explained that the cards were required to tune digital channels on my device. She did some research and said OK. Then she said the digital transport adapter that I use on my S2 wouldn't work with limited basic and I gave an answer similar to "Huh? How does my analog TV work then?" and then she changed her mind on that again.

I got the digital transition letter from Comcast a few weeks ago and was able to get a cable card at the local Comcast storefront to use with my $10.29 monthly "Limited Basic Service" with no issues. So while it works, I'm guessing Comcast will try to talk you into spending money on a more expensive package to get one.

__________________"To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.-- cheesesteak
"You know, ground beef is a real winner nowadays" -- Faster Guy

Okay, so back in May last year I had two Cablecards in two TiVos and Comcast was charging me $0 for the first, and $1.50 for the second. I noticed that the verbage on the second said clearly "Cablecard (additional Card IN Same Device)" so I called them on it.

In June they changed it to $0.00 for the first, $1.10 for the 2nd, but with a Customer-owned Equipment-Adjustment of -$2.50. Odd.

Finally in July after complaining again, they changed it so there were NO cablecard
charges (which seemed right) but still a $-2.50 COE Adjustment. Okay great.

In August it was basically the same except there were TWO "Digital Adapter" charges of $0.00. Great. Weird that it changed again but whatever.

Fast-forward to January. I add a TiVo Elite using a 3rd Cablecard. At great pain and torture I might add (the usual Comcast Cable Card install horror story, but hey I was prepared for it). Now I had one "Digital Adapter" charge of $0.00 and three Cablecard charges of $1.10 each. Plus the continuing $-2.50 COE Adjustment/credit.

I complain again. Either the bill isn't clear (there's only one Cablecard in each TiVo so why should I be charged $1.10)?

So of course this month it changes again. No longer are there any Cablecard charges, but now I have a "Digital Additional Outlet Service (Includes Equipment) Qty 2 @ $8.00 each" or $16.00. And the $-2.50 COE adjustment is gone. So they've responded to my complaint by raising my cable TV service rates by $18.50-$3.30=$15.20.

WTF? I raised it with Comcast in chat and after referring it to the billing department they just contacted me and said the billing is correct.

To quote them:
"This is in connection to your dispute on the monthly charge for the 2 additional outlets. We reviewed your account here, we found notes on 04/12/12 by our Escalation Team stating that you were advised cable cards are free but Comcast is charging the signal to the outlets. You were advised that you are billed incorrectly when you added cable cards, thus, Escalation Department corrected your account by adding 2 outlets codes which are at $8/month."

WTF? Seems like a) complain to @ComcastCares (hit and miss), b) contact local franchise authority, c) open a case with the FCC (clear statements of costs etc), d)?